Higher and Higher. 1-28-12

The good news and the bad news. The good news is that Boop doesn’t have to go back to the hospital, as her bilirubin was under 21. The bad news is that her bilirubin level was the highest yet: 17.2. And she hadn’t gained any weight in spite of my efforts. So, the pediatrician said we need to move exclusively to bottle for the weekend to make sure she’s getting enough to eat. I need to get 22 oz in her over a 24 hr period, feeding her every 2-3 hours. She’s due for her next bottle in a few minutes. All I want to do is sleep. Boop and I are much alike in that regard. She can’t keep her eyes open due to the jaundice.

I’m trying to keep her in the sunlight as much as possible, but she hates for her body to be exposed. I’m not sure if the daylight helps much, but I guess it can’t hurt—as long as she’s not too agitated. She’s really missing nursing, I can tell. I’ve been giving her my pinky, which is somewhat soothing, but I can tell she’s wanting milk. There’s little time to pump, trying to feed and soothe Boop and trying to get me and Winnie fed. I’m afraid I’m going to lose the progress that I’ve made on pumping. I was lucky that I got several newborn bottles for little Boop at the shower at work.  It saved me a trip out to buy some. Overall, I’ve done pretty well with getting her fed, but it’s hard for her to stay awake through a feeding. I think this has been her problem with me nursing, too: me not producing enough, her not able to stay awake to complete a feeding. Hopefully, in the coming days, we can get both resolved, with me maybe only supplementing once or twice a day.